Soon, the soil met with the ocean, and the erosion of the land created what we know today as sand. Since so many facts could be obtained from sampling soil, researchers deemed it important to sample sand. It did not take them long to realize that sampling sand was not exactly a walk through the park. Not only do you have to observe the texture, size, and makeup of a mere grain of sand, but you must also acknowledge the fact that a sand sample can be completely different from a sample a few yards away. Scientists can find quite a bit about our beaches, oceans, and humans’ effect on them by sand sampling. Additionally, soil, like a college recommendation letter (oh, the irony) cannot be tampered with. That means that a human’s presence coming in contact with soil/sand can alter its genetic makeup, thus making the study not scientifically accurate. This problem, however, is not exclusive to just beaches. It qalso lends itself to salt marshes and other waterways. We aim to, nay we will, provide our scientists and researchers with an alternative to walking onto dunes, marshes, and any other form of affected soil thus providing them with a way to protect the integrity of the sand or soil, so our beaches can stay as beautiful as healthy as the one below.
As with any other problem/opportunity, there will be people dealing with the solution (target customers). In this specific project, obtaining soil samples of dunes/salt marshes without damaging the surrounding environment, the target customers include biologists, geologists, beach profilers, and economists, among others. All of these customers will be working in the hopes of solving the problem-obtaining soil samples without damaging the marine life surrounding the soil sampling area of beach dunes(accumulations of loose, well sorted, windblown sand grains (mostly very fine to medium) in wave-like mounds or ridges whose characteristic shapes are maintained by periods of wind-induced, grain-by-grain movement), salt marshes(land between salt water and sand dominated by herbs and grasses, and any other waterways/areas home to this informative natural resource .
But how, you ask? While it seems to be quite a reoccurring theme, technology seems to be the answer. In this crazy day and age of gizmos and gadgets, new methods of accomplishing tasks are surfacing. One of these is the use of robotics. Lighter than humans and capable of performing quite a bit of tasks, the robot seems to be a viable alternative for obtaining soil/sand samples without damaging the surrounding dunes. These dunes are crucial to our beaches. Not only are they vital for the Jersey Shore cast to return to our beaches (Lord, help us) but without them our beaches would not exist. Lack of beaches would affect our large bodies of water, which would affect the human population, thus causing innumerable social and environmental problems.
My partner and I have the incredible opportunity to help preserve something that is crucial to marine life. The ecosystems and organisms that will be affected by the loss of these natural masterpieces are shocking. When our VEX Robot is completed successfully, we will be able to say we assisted in the saving of marshes, beach dunes, and other waterways, which equates to saving the lives of many organisms. The protecting of these natural habitats will also lead to the continuation of visitors, which will lead to the steady flow of tourism, and finally, good for society-which is why we do things in the first place, to make the world a better place for ourselves and our kids and their kids.
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